SR-417 (Central Florida GreeneWay) going cashless beginning Aug 17th.

[erionm]

Beginning Aug 17th, SR-417 (Central FL GreeneWay) will transition to All-Electronic-Tolling (no more cash tolls).

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/sr-...-plate-next-month/46BF6PO2YBHG3C2YGUPUE7YMQI/

 

[ParrotBill]

Rude. Because Rental Car companies charge a premium to handle tolls, and it's quite a hassle to handle it yourself and opt-out of the rental car toll processing.

 

[SteveH]

Senators Fetterman/PA and Cramer/ND have introduced legislation that would require those that conduct in person business to accept cash payments. I wonder how this might effect tolls.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

Senators Fetterman/PA and Cramer/ND have introduced legislation that would require those that conduct in person business to accept cash payments. I wonder how this might effect tolls.

They have already removed the toll booth portions along most of 417, all of Florida's Turnpike, and portions of most other toll roads. They installed overhead tolling gantries to record the transponder or your license plate, so this is not an in-person business situation.

 

[ParrotBill]

That legislation is probably over-reach on states rights to manage their own commerce. PA has cashless tolling so I doubt that will be in scope even if it does move ahead.

 

[EACarlson]

Rude. Because Rental Car companies charge a premium to handle tolls, and it's quite a hassle to handle it yourself and opt-out of the rental car toll processing.

www.visitortollpass.com is the answer. It takes an extra 2 minutes to pick up the hangtag on level 1. Half price tolls and no surcharges. Or bring your own transponder.

 

[ParrotBill]

www.visitortollpass.com is the answer. It takes an extra 2 minutes to pick up the hangtag on level 1. Half price tolls and no surcharges. Or bring your own transponder.

So, let me explain further for anyone wondering why I am not happy.

First, you must read and understand a very long FAQ about how this works and what you have to do with a rental car.
There is a specific list of rental companies that are willing to let you use it and opt out of theirs.
You must download an app, reserve a tag, pick it up, register it and your car, payment method, and hang the tag before you leave the rental facility. You must be sure you have opted out of the rental car toll billing, which means you cannot use any skip the line process or it is likely baked in to your agreement.

You may still be pressured to not use Visitorpass or your own and take the rental company toll management, with warnings you may be double billed and that the rental company will charge all the fees if your visitor or personal pass "does not register" for the toll.

I have successfully used my own EZPass (and Sunpass before that) for years. But once, The rental company got a charge. Bill from the rental company: about $50 for one $3 toll. There was a daily service charge to use tolls of $5 a day, and a $10 billing processing fee.

It took me 3 weeks to get the Toll authority to reverse the charge to the toll company, which they did not want to do because I was disputing the RENTAL COMPANY charge, not MY CHARGE. That was problem 1. Problem 2 was then showing the rental company I new the charge was reversed as they did not want to talk to me about it, and threatening legal action if they did not eliminate all the other charges since now I had not used the toll billing.

This was with a "second tier" rental company. Not the fly by nights and not a national chain.

I was lucky it was a double billing. If it had been picked up for rental billing and NOT my tag, I would be out of luck, and have to pay that $50 for the $3 toll.
Granted this was one time in about ten where I have used a rental car. Just beware. 1 in 10 is too much!

 

[EACarlson]

So, let me explain further for anyone wondering why I am not happy.

First, you must read and understand a very long FAQ about how this works and what you have to do with a rental car.
There is a specific list of rental companies that are willing to let you use it and opt out of theirs.
You must download an app, reserve a tag, pick it up, register it and your car, payment method, and hang the tag before you leave the rental facility. You must be sure you have opted out of the rental car toll billing, which means you cannot use any skip the line process or it is likely baked in to your agreement.

You may still be pressured to not use Visitorpass or your own and take the rental company toll management, with warnings you may be double billed and that the rental company will charge all the fees if your visitor or personal pass "does not register" for the toll.

I have successfully used my own EZPass (and Sunpass before that) for years. But once, The rental company got a charge. Bill from the rental company: about $50 for one $3 toll. There was a daily service charge to use tolls of $5 a day, and a $10 billing processing fee.

It took me 3 weeks to get the Toll authority to reverse the charge to the toll company, which they did not want to do because I was disputing the RENTAL COMPANY charge, not MY CHARGE. That was problem 1. Problem 2 was then showing the rental company I new the charge was reversed as they did not want to talk to me about it, and threatening legal action if they did not eliminate all the other charges since now I had not used the toll billing.

This was with a "second tier" rental company. Not the fly by nights and not a national chain.

I was lucky it was a double billing. If it had been picked up for rental billing and NOT my tag, I would be out of luck, and have to pay that $50 for the $3 toll.
Granted this was one time in about ten where I have used a rental car. Just beware. 1 in 10 is too much!

You can certainly skip the line. I've done so using VTP with Hertz, Thrifty, Avis, Budget, National and Enterprise. Part of all of those programs is that you fill out your profile with the answers to questions like toll preference. Yes, you have to be renting with one of the 10 companies with their cars on site at MCO. The exorbitant fees that the rental car companies charge is on the rental car companies, not the tolling agency.
There is always the option of not driving on the toll roads.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I have successfully used my own EZPass (and Sunpass before that) for years. But once, The rental company got a charge. Bill from the rental company: about $50 for one $3 toll. There was a daily service charge to use tolls of $5 a day, and a $10 billing processing fee.

I wish I knew how to buy an EZPass. We live in a state where it's not needed, but it seems as if more and more states are going to this "cashless" system, so it would be handy to have one.

 

[pooch]

I wish I knew how to buy an EZPass. We live in a state where it's not needed, but it seems as if more and more states are going to this "cashless" system, so it would be handy to have one.

A quick google search should bring up options. We live in CT & have a Mass EZ Pass that we take when we go to FL. Opt out of the rental car company’s toll charge, enter the rental car info in the EZ Pass app & off we go. Knock wood we have only had an issue once when the app was down for maintenance when I was entering the rental car info. We passed 2 toll gantries before I was able to link the car. Those 2 were billed by the rental company. The rest went to my EZ Pass. I didn’t think the charge from Alamo was exorbitant - $7.00.

 

[erionm]

I wish I knew how to buy an EZPass. We live in a state where it's not needed, but it seems as if more and more states are going to this "cashless" system, so it would be handy to have one.

You can purchase a SunPass PRO transponder online. The SunPass PRO is from the State of FL and is interoperable with E-ZPass PLUS it also works on toll roads in TX, KS & OK.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/about/pro.shtml

 

[pooch]

I would look for a pass that covers states either in your area or the area through which you might drive. Our Massachusetts pass covers the eastern seaboard plus.

 

[CarolynFH]

You can purchase a SunPass PRO transponder online. The SunPass PRO is from the State of FL and is interoperable with E-ZPass PLUS it also works on toll roads in TX, KS & OK.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/about/pro.shtml

Yes, we bought a SunPass PRO several years ago when we were driving from Texas to Orlando frequently. We were recently surprised when tolls from roads here in Texas that take E-ZPass (as well as other toll tags) started showing up on our SunPass account, even when the SunPass transponder wasn't attached to the windshield. We finally figured out that the toll gates were reading our license plate because the tag for our local agency had stopped transmitting. We got a new tag from the local agency, and now the E-Z Pass tolls go to that account as they should.

@Simba's Mom, I'd agree with buying the SunPass PRO transponder online. It's easy to set up an account and to list the vehicles. Something I really like is that you can enter a rental vehicle license plate and description and specify the dates and times you'll have that car, and SunPass will only charge tolls during that period. We recently used ours in Ohio, and at some point after our rental was over, the car disappeared from our account - I didn't even have to delete it!

 

[Lewisc]

Senators Fetterman/PA and Cramer/ND have introduced legislation that would require those that conduct in person business to accept cash payments. I wonder how this might effect tolls.

Some concert venues are cashless. I've read a customer service location, or a reverse ATM machine will accept cash and give you a gift card, no fee. At the end of the event you can cash out.

 

[fla4fun]

I worked for a company that tried to go cashless. It lasted about a month. We were doing it primarily for security reasons, but also for economic reasons (it takes a lot of money to safely process cash). Sure, you won’t have employee theft or armed robberies (we had two locations held up at gunpoint during the twenty years I was there), but the inconvenience to our customers and the lost sales weren’t worth it in the end.

I doubt the same holds true for a toll road though. People who use it regularly will already have a transponder and the occasional traveler who wants to pay cash will either join in or take alternate roads. I promise you can get anywhere you want to go in central Florida without taking a single toll road, if that is your choice.

 

[Simba's Mom]

You can purchase a SunPass PRO transponder online. The SunPass PRO is from the State of FL and is interoperable with E-ZPass PLUS it also works on toll roads in TX, KS & OK.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/about/pro.shtml

I would look for a pass that covers states either in your area or the area through which you might drive. Our Massachusetts pass covers the eastern seaboard plus.

Thanks-I just did some googling, but not enough to find out what EZ Pass costs. Since I'm originally from Massachusetts, that's the one I thought of first. But it seems that both E-ZPass and SunPass PRO work in all the states we were interested in-Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida, and Rhode Island. And SunPass PRO is only $15, and supposedly easy, I'm leaning towards that one.

 

[pooch]

Mass EZPass costs nothing for the transponder. You must link a debit or credit card to it with an initial deposit of $20. Tolls are then deducted and replenished automatically from your linked account. I don’t think it costs anything to sign up, at least I don’t remember being charged for anything.

 

[CarolynFH]

SunPass PRO is only $15, and supposedly easy,

I find it very easy to use. We’re in Texas but recently used it in Ohio.

 

[EACarlson]

Mass EZPass costs nothing for the transponder. You must link a debit or credit card to it with an initial deposit of $20. Tolls are then deducted and replenished automatically from your linked account. I don’t think it costs anything to sign up, at least I don’t remember being charged for anything.

Same with an Illinois IPass. But I don't know if they are still issuing transponders, I seem to recall getting an email that they are moving to the stickers. www.getipass.com